sociology of music and dance

sociology of music and dance

the sociological study of music and dance as artistic and LEISURE forms possessing wide social significance.

As universal features of human societies, the functionalist view of both music and dance is that they perform social as well as individual expressive functions (e.g. religious dance). Early sociological study of music has focused most on the distinctions between élite and popular forms and the ideological implications of these (see ADORNO, BENJAMIN). More recently structuralist and semiological studies of music have been important, and the connections between musical and dance forms and particular subcultures (e.g. jazz and blues) and with YOUTH CULTURE has been an important topic in CULTURAL STUDIES (see also POPULAR CULTURE). An excellent survey of the main approaches to the sociological study of music is provided by R. Middleton, Studying Popular Music (1990).